Artistry On Ice gets an injection of Hollywood glamour
Yesterday Artistry On Ice enjoyed another great moment at its Beijing news conference in the Sheraton Hotel. Renowned Hollywood superstar Katie Holmes, the wife of Tom Cruise, joined the show as the newly designated promotional ambassador of Artistry On Ice, as well as for the Artistry brand. Since her appearance in the corresponding event in Taipei on June 9, Holmes' presence has added even more glamour to this event.
This is the first time Holmes came to Beijing. Like other people who visit the city, she didn't miss the chance to sample traditional Beijing duck, which she found very delicious and was keen to eat more of. She revealed that she is looking forward to experiencing the food, the culture and meeting as many people as possible during her stay in Beijing.
During the conference, she said that she was flattered and excited when she heard of her designation as the ambassador of Artistry On Ice. "I used to watch ice skating on TV and being able to see it live with the high level of skilled skaters and the beautiful environment that Artistry creates for everyone is so thrilling," she said. "I am looking forward to the show here in Beijing."
It makes sense that Holmes was chosen as an ambassador. She explained before and during this news conference that she is a big fan of skating performances. "Participating in this beautiful show and being able to watch China's own gold medalists, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, skating along with other skating stars is going to be extremely exciting," she said.
She pointed out that figure skating has been a popular sport amongst middle and upper class audiences in the US for a while and yet shows on such a great scale as China's Artistry On Ice are still rare in the US.
Figure skating is known as ballet on ice. Artistry On Ice seeks to align the gracefulness of ice skating with art. Holmes said that there is one other thing that makes her trip to Beijing meaningful, which is engagement in a charity program about art. "Artistry will donate 5,000 painting art kits to the children of migrant workers, so as to improve their art studying conditions and nurture them to appreciate art," Holmes explained. Some of these children also attended the news conference and Holmes presented each of them with a kit in person.
Tang Mei, the brand director of Artistry, pointed out that Holmes is well-known for being the wife of Tom Cruise, as well as a Hollywood actor, but she is also a fashion designer and dancer, who has her own fashion brand. "So she herself is a perfect reflection of fashion and art, which is why we hope to promote the corresponding connotation of our brand through Katie Holmes," Tang said.
Holmes revealed that she has just finished working on a film based on the Anton Chekhov play The Seagull. "I am going into production in a couple of weeks on another independent movie, so it is busy, always busy," she explained.
Also at the news conference, the famous violinist Edvin Marton appeared with his antique violin that costs over four million dollars and played it on the spot. Since 2003, he has created a lot of splendid music for figure skating, such as "The Godfather" for Evgeni Plushenko, the so-called "prince on ice."